


The Beast Within 6/?

by iantosgal (orphan_account)



Series: The Beast Within [6]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Timelines, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-13
Updated: 2013-03-13
Packaged: 2017-12-05 05:37:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/719470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/iantosgal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack is back from his time with the Doctor and his team are keeping something from him, but what? Set after KKBB.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beast Within 6/?

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a story I posted a couple of years back on my LJ. My Torchwood muse buggered off and the story died. A couple of days ago, I found it, re-read it and the muse was reawakened!! So I've written a couple more chapters and just wanted to repost this over here on my new profile! So sorry for the spam of chapters, if anyone remembers it from LJ then I'm sorry for the long wait and for anyone that reads, I hope you enjoy it!!!

Ianto watched as Jack stormed into the interview room and ripped the cloth hood off the woman head. She looked terrified. 

“Tell me everything.” Jack shouted. 

“Where am I? Where's my husband? “ Asked Beth, her voice shaking, eyes flittering around the small room.

“He's safe.” 

“What do you mean, "safe?" What have you done with him?”

“Nothing yet.” Jack planted his hands firmly on the desk, leaning in close to the frightened woman. “Tell me what happened in the flat, Beth. It had to be you or Mike, so how did you do it?”

“You can't treat people like this. I've been burgled, attacked! I want a  
lawyer, I want a phone call. If you're charging me with something …”

“We're not charging you with anything. We don't have to. And there'll be no  
lawyer, no phone calls, just us, and this room for as long as it takes.“

Outside the room, Ianto smiled at Jack’s words, trying not to laugh. 

“Now, tell me what happened!” He shouted trying to shock her into a confession. 

“I told her ... and the police. Please, I don't know anything!” She pleaded. 

Gwen shot Jack a look that said ‘back off Harkness’ and laid out the photo’s from the crime scene. Beth flinched.

“Look at them.” Jack demanded. “The second one just died in the hospital. ‘Keep her away from me. The woman in the flat.’ Those were his dying words. Now, why would he say something like that?”

“I don’t know. I swear.” She emphasised the last word, desperate to make this man see her innocence. 

“Is it Mike? Are you covering for him?”

“No!” Her reply was forceful and the light went out. 

Jack looked at it. 

“Jack?” Gwen looked at him and Jack got her meaning. He left the room making his way to where Ianto was stood, looking over the interview room. 

“’Just us and this room for as long as it takes?’ Terrifying.” Ianto said, keeping his face straight. 

“Really?

“Absolutely. Shivers down my spine.”

“You don’t look scared.”

“Oh it… passed.” Ianto said.

Jack growled a little in mock disappointment clenching his fist. Ianto just smiled at him.

* * * * *

The tests Jack had asked Owen to do had proved slightly difficult due to the fact that her skin was impenetrable. So Jack pulled out the big guns. He shoved her at Janet’s cage. Nearly gave the woman a heart attack. 

When that didn’t work, he broke out the mind probe. Ianto had his reservations but he honestly couldn’t be bothered to argue. He was feeling a bit out of sorts. The lights seemed too bright, noise’s too loud. He knew it something to do with his furry friend but, although he had experienced an enhancement in his senses, this was something else. 

“You said we weren’t allowed to use that again.” There seemed to be an accusing tone in Tosh’s voice and it made Ianto smile. 

“It’s just a mind probe.” Jack countered. 

“Remember what happened last time you used it?” Ianto said with a grin. 

Jack threw him a dirty look which only made Ianto feel smug. He knew Jack didn’t want to bring this up in front of Gwen, knew it would make her difficult as she would want to protect Beth but Ianto was having to much fun to care. 

“That was different. That species has extremely high blood pressure.” Jack’s attempt to be breezy failed miserably in Ianto’s opinion. 

“Oh, right, their heads must explode all the time.” Ianto drew a terrified, shocked look from Gwen and warning looks from the others. Yep way to much fun. 

“You can't do this. What if you're wrong? If she is human, it'll kill her.” Ianto agreed with Gwen and felt his smile drop a little, but when Jack had an idea in his head he wouldn’t drop it. He flung himself into the chair to watch the exchange between them.

“I'm not wrong. We have to find out what she is.”

Ianto grabbed the arm rests and let the straps fall over his wrists.

“Take it easy, Jack. Stop at the first sign of trouble.” Tosh warned. 

“Or the first sign of exploding.” Ianto said deadpan.

“Gwen…bring her up.”

Gwen sighed her ok and went to retrieve Beth. Ianto mimed being electrocuted  
which earned him an exasperated look from Owen, which was then replaced with a big grin, and a shout from Jack. He pushed himself out of the chair and took his place amongst the team. 

* * * * *

Beth sat in the chair and Tosh adjusted the wrist straps. She asks if there to tight. They weren’t. Ianto gave her a drink. There was a brief exchange about the pain of the process where Jack was more than blunt. Beth told him his bed side manner was rubbish.

“You should see his manners in bed, they're atrocious. Apparently. So I've heard.” Gwen rambled nervously.

Ianto was surprised how much that bothered him. He knew she was just nervous, making a joke but he felt the need to stake his claim to Jack.

“Oh, they are. I remember this one …”

Jack coughed loudly but Ianto could see the smile on his face. 

A few more checks, some reassuring words from Gwen and some not so reassuring words from Jack and Tosh started the machine. 

And Ianto immediately knew something was wrong. 

It was like the pulse of the machine was going through his body as well as Beth’s brain. It tingled. 

Then Beth shouted out in pain and the team were shocked to hear an answering shout. Jack spun to see Ianto, hands pressed over his ears. His head threw back slightly and he began to crumple. Jack ran to him and pulled him to him, holding him up.

“Turn it off!” Owen screamed but Ianto shook his head.

“Keep it going.” Jack sighed tightly. 

Owen looked horrified but followed Jack’s orders. 

The deeper they dug, the more times Beth screamed and the more pain Ianto felt. Jack shouted questions at Beth but he never left Ianto’s side. Owen kept them updated on Beth’s vitals, everytime Owen said it was safe, Jack told him to go deeper. Gwen was clearly affected, trying to stop Jack but he didn’t let up. Tosh even started to look a little uncomfortable. The teams eye’s flickered between Beth in the chair and Ianto, so clearly in pain.

Suddenly the lights started to flicker and Ianto screamed. Jack held him as close as he could but he crumpled slowly to the floor. He just couldn’t keep Ianto up anymore, he was limp in his arms. 

Suddenly Beth slumped in the chair and Ianto stopped moving, his eye’s rolled back in his head. 

Beth sat up and her arm changed, a hidden element coming to the surface. Jack didn’t move from his position with Ianto on the floor. 

“Who are you?”

“Kayehla janees, putaak graszh, ish nin fas du hap vac nal.”

And that was all she said till they turned of the mind probe. As Beth came round, Ianto stirred. 

* * * * * 

“Owen, check Ianto over and then everyone to the boardroom.” 

Jack pulled Ianto off of the floor and helped him towards the Autopsy bay and Gwen took Beth back to the cell. 

Owen hurried ahead to the autopsy room with Jack supporting Ianto behind him. 

“Jack I’m fine.”

“No your not.”

“I can walk by myself.” Ianto growled pushing away from Jack. 

Jack looked at him slightly stunned and then rushed forward to grab Ianto as he swayed.

“Let me help you.” Jack said softly, hands on Ianto’s shoulders. 

Ianto looked into his eyes and then nodded slightly. When they got down to the autopsy bay Ianto sat slowly on the table. Owen shone a light in his eyes and he screwed them shut, turning his head away. Owen shot Jack a worried look. 

“Ok. Ianto look at me, yeah?” Ianto opened his eyes. Owen gasped and took a step back. 

“What? What is it?” Ianto asked, worry etched across his face. 

“Your eye’s, they were black.” He looked at him again and shook his head. “They’re…blue again. I don’t get it.”

He clicked his fingers next to Ianto’s ears and Ianto flinched, pulling away. Owen frowned. 

“Ok something’s not right.”

Ianto raised an eyebrow.

“Really?” He said, sarcasm lacing his voice.

“Alright, alright keep your hair on.” Owen laughed, but the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Look’s like something about either the mind probe, Beth or the thing inside her has played havoc with our furry friend. I don’t know what but maybe you should sit this out.”

“What? No, no way.”

“Ianto, look at the pain you were in. We can’t put you at risk like that. What if it happened in the field?”

“I’ll be fine. We don’t even know which it is! It might have just been the mind probe and nothing will happen when I’m around her.”

“We can’t risk that.” Jack chipped in.

Ianto slammed his hands down on the autopsy table making Jack and Owen jump.

“No! I’m not gonna sit around here and do nothing. This has taken enough from me already.” Ianto shouted.

There was an awkward silence and then Owen put his hand on Ianto’s shoulder. Ianto looked at him and then Owen pulled him into a tight hug. Jack stood back a little, wishing he could pull Ianto to him but for some reason he didn’t fell like it was his place. When did he loose that position? The answer hit him straight away. He lost that right when he left. 

Owen pulled away and looked into Ianto’s eyes, his hands planted firmly on either side of Ianto’s face. 

“Ok. Just, be careful, for fucks sake.”

* * * * *

The whole team gathered in the boardroom. 

“She's a sleeper agent. It all clicked when I saw the implant.” Jack explained. 

“A sleeper agent? Who for?” Owen asked. 

Jack told them that they were only known as Cell 1-4-4, infiltrating planets, adapting their bodies, gathering intelligence, watching, until they were ready to take over. An advanced guard was sent to gather intel and given false memories to help them fit in. 

“She has no idea she's not human. Her real self must have taken over briefly,  
killed the burglars. Self preservation, by the time they attack, they know every single thing about the planet. Tosh.”

Toshiko stood up, taking over and delivering her presentation. 

“The implant gathers information. Normal X-rays don't show it. She's  
projecting a false image. It's got all this data stored inside it. This,” Tosh brought a reading up on the screen. “is a force-field generator - it creates an impervious layer above the skin, just a nanometre thick. That's why you couldn't get the needle inside her.” 

“Right, well ... God, look, they even know about us.” Owen said, shock in his voice, as images of the torchwood team flashed up on the screen, pages from their database too.

“They know more about this place than I do. Nobody knows more than I do.” Ianto said, clenching a fist. Owen smiled at him before becoming serious again. 

* * * * *

They decided to tell Beth. Jack showed her the CCTV footage of her change. She was terrified, that much was clear. She had killed people. It was never a nice thing to find out. 

Ianto knew how she felt. 

Near the beginning, when his furry friend was new, he hadn’t been able to control it. It had driven him insane, this constant rage and adrenaline that seemed to thunder threw his body. One night he’s lost control. Killed a girl, she was seven. 

Ianto and the others had covered it up and Ianto felt dirty, disgusted with his lack of control, and guilt filled him to the brim. He would never tell Jack. He had made the other’s promise that when Jack came back they would never tell him. 

Jack seemed to have this image of Ianto, something Ianto knew he could never live up to. Not really. Jack put him on a pedestal, he could see it in the older man’s eyes. Even after everything with Lisa, Jack still saw him as innocent and Ianto just couldn’t take that away from him. 

Deep down, he knew the girls death wasn’t his fault. It was the wolf that killed her not him. But that was no excuse. The wolf should never have come out that night. 

He did everything he could. He put money in her parents account, visited the girls grave. But what could he really do for them. He had stolen their daughter, their little girl, their baby. Nothing could make up for that. 

But he thought about her every day. Never let himself forget her. He told himself, if he did that, he really was a monster. 

Alice Jean Kinski. Her name was etched on his brain for eternity.

* * * * *

Ianto watched the CCTV footage of Jack telling Beth again. 

“Oh. I wish – I wish this wasn't happening. I'd never know. I'd just live  
a normal life.” Beth said. He hated the fear and choked sound of her voice. 

“Until the day of the attack.” Jack snapped back. 

“I won't do anything! I'm not that person!”

“I’m sorry, but you are.” The look on Jack’s face made Ianto’s blood boil. 

He watched as Jack marched away leaving the terrified woman to cry into her hands. 

Ianto re-wound the footage and watched it again. Why was he doing this? He was just getting more angry.

“Hey Ianto, any chance of a coffee?” Jack’s voice was so much softer with him. But Beth had no more control over the alien inside her than he did over the wolf. 

With a snarl he launched himself at Jack pinning him to the wall. Jack yelped and the others cried out.

“Why are you so harsh on her? She is scared Jack. There is something inside her that she can’t control and you treat her like shit. She is no different than me, so we should have the same treatment. If you can’t see that…” Ianto sighed and pushed away from Jack. He clenched and unclenched his fists, looking at Jack’s horrified face. “Make your own damn coffee Jack.” Ianto snarled and walked away. 

He would not let his anger get the better of him. Not again.


End file.
